Nick's fears are founded when tragedy strikes again at the next carnival and it becomes a race against time to find and stop the killer before they strike again, or disappear for good. I found it more difficult to ‘get into’ or to be hooked, this time and it was about halfway through, before I reached page turning mode. After his suspicions are confirmed at the Burnham-on-Sea carnival forty-eight hours later, the race is on to find the killer before the next event in a nearby town. DI Nick Dixon is in attendance and, from what he witnessed, he has no doubt that this was planned, that it was murder.

I’m an older reader and no longer have to use technology on a day to day basis for work, so social media, Word and Excel are my limits these days! I know everyone has their own opinion but there really isn’t a lot of bad language in this story and I have listened to it many times. He's come to see the squibbing, the traditional firework display that brings the town's November festivities to a dramatic close. The combination of both the author and the narrator makes this book and any other book with this dual combination the best listen of all. I love following the development of characters and relationships from book to book (highly recommend starting at Book 1 and working your way through the series).And it's interesting that Nick's 'flaw' is type 1 diabetes – the way he manages this alongside a stressful job is well described, as are his responses to being investigated (I think after revelations at the Met, we are going to see more of this in detective fiction - it was a major theme in Ian Rankin's latest). Opening chapters regarding squibbing was something we do not have,but it was great for the opening chapters revolving around an attempted murder in connection with squibbing.

Boyd has created a great character and series in Nick Dixon, and if you like British Police Procedurals I recommend the series. This is my 12th book of the Dixon series, a series I have enjoyed for a number of years and have kept up with when each book is "fresh off the press. Obviously I’m biased - who wouldn’t enjoy a novel set on your doorstep, with the ability to recognise the setting down to the name of a house?There's a few red herrings in the plot to misdirect the reader, but then it's all neatly pulled together in the final act, when the real motive and murderer is revealed. The Ford Cortina in Gold with a brown viynl roof was actually used in previous historical crime scene. I agree with the author - the spectacle of the squibbing at the beginning of the book was exciting and pacy - but as someone unfamiliar with local traditions in Somerset I had to go to YouTube to see the carnival in action! By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.